Silver Bullet
by TheAgentRed
Summary: Manjoume was imprisoned in a prison of war camp by none other than his closest friends! He was then rescued by Kaibacorp. A rich organization turned revolutionary group to fight against the darkness! Can he assimilate his friends back from evil to good? Set 3 years after end of gx season 4.
1. Chapter 1: A New World

Disclaimer: (I do not own any of Yu gi oh, I only own the OC's and this plot, Also the image im using as a cover belongs to the GX manga).

"To the chopping block you go! Hahaha." Jasper exclaimed as Manjoume was pushed down to the Asuka's feet, head and neck locked neatly into to the stocks.

"Please, Tenjoin-kun…" Manjoume whispered to her, pleading for his life. He was always there for her, he was there when she joined the Society of Light, he was there when they were sucked into "darkness" and he even gave her his own personal apartment in slifer red. She would always reject him though, as had been done countless times… What broke his heart the most this time was the fact that she was going to end his life. All that dedication to her had all gone to waste.

"The bloody love-sick pup…" Jasper shouted, however was interjected by Asuka.

"This one is mine!" She said softly but clearly. Jasper was a very impatient and aggressive duellist as was shown evident by his rock star-like appearance which consisted off a black shirt enveloped by a leather crimson jacket that was then shrouded by rock star "spikes" near his joints. This when added to his alcoholism and drug addiction which he claimed to "enhance his creativity and duelling skills" made him feared by both his enemies and underlings.

"Asuka… I am sorry" The spiky haired prisoner said softly.

"For what?" Asuka replied, annoyed. She really wanted to get this done with, then she could return to the manor and relax and enjoy some quality sleep.

"For everything" Manjoume answered.

"Just kill him already" Jasper urged impatiently.

Asuka lifted the cutlass behind her head and back. The cutlass was decorated with rubies and was gifted to her by her lord, who was now probably working on battle tactics at the manor. Then she swiftly descended the blade towards Manjoume's neck. A whistle was distinctly heard as the blade glided down the air towards the prisoner, this whistle however was then overthrown by a loud gunshot.

" _Damn it._ " Jasper cursed inwardly as the helicopter descended.

Inside the helicopter was an old man probably in his 50's with dark turquoise hair wearing sunglasses who also had a moustache. The helicopter was white and had an iconic "K" logo on it.

"If you at least try to hurt them, this situation will not be pretty." The man who they now recognize as the right-hand man of Seto Kaiba himself, shouted at the two."

"Isono why is it worth risking your life for these nobodies." Jasper asked quizzaciously.

The turquoise haired man entirely ignored this question, focusing primarily and solely on making sure that none of them tried anything fishy or dangerous, holding his gun firmly.

Right after a man that looked like he was in his 30's descended down from his helicopter, again with the letter "K" sewed on his uniform, with brown hair and intimidating blue eyes Seto Kaiba walked towards the prisoners and the two captains.

"Well well if it isn't Tenjoin." Kaiba said in his usual mocking tone.

"Kaiba…why are you here?" Asuka replied.

"Does it matter? Anyways why are you killing these people? Are you people stooping so low that you would harm helpless civilians?"

"I am not at Duel Academy anymore Kaiba, I am no longer your student."

"Well let's see if you have gotten stronger even though you have grown older, and you know what! I will even let your friend help you!"

Kaiba drew out his duel disk swiftly, Isono could've sword Asuka flinch. As ruthless as they are both captains knew that they stood no chance and therefore focused on fleeing the scene.

"Let's go Jasper." Asuka commanded, annoyed that she would have to report this to her lord who would too be annoyed by this sudden intrusion by none other than Seto Kaiba.

"Should we free the prisoners?" Isono inquired.

"What do you think?" Kaiba answered back.

Suddenly an entire force of men in tuxedos descended from the helicopter to aid the survivors. They were then transported back to Kaiba's base via the helicopter and were given food, water and medical treatment for the abuse they had endured. At the base the prisoners were surprised at how the base was not ornately decorated like what they would expect from a man such as Seto Kaiba. Instead of something grand and high-tech as the duel tower in battle city or Kaiba land they just got a regular military base that also looked like a military base, with regular cabins and jeeps driving around everywhere. The prisoners knew what Kaiba would expect from them and what they were going to live their current lives doing. However Kaiba still delivered his speech that was certainly considered redundant by the freed prisoners as they knew that they had a good idea of what is going to happen to them judging from the appearance of the base alone.

"Now you have all been saved from the torture you have been facing and you have been ridden of the pain you once beared, however there is one thing that you have not regained yet. And that is your true freedom! Ever since _they_ attacked us have all been stripped of our lives and family, we have all suffered the same disaster. However those who choose to fight for freedom stay here and serve humanity and more importantly yourself! Or if you refuse you can leave! We don't need cowards!" Kaiba announced inspirationally.

It was settled, almost everyone stayed. The ones that didn't were parents with their children that seemed to hide rather than to fight. Everyone were given cabins that were designated by rank. The higher rank you were the more comfortable your accommodation would be. Manjoume walked to his cabin and was disgusted when opening the door. There was only 1 regular fan and no TV or even radio. This was truly not one the young man was accustomed to. He would usually be on the lookout for five-star hotels with an indoor spa and plasma television… and that was his unlucky days when all the famous and world-renown hotels and the ones considered "six stars" had no rooms available. Manjoume plopped his body on his stiff bed and sighed. Then suddenly a huge knock on the door, He really couldn't be bothered opening the door for him or even giving him permission for entering because he already knew that it was his cabin mate. Besides, it is not like this is his cabin, this is owned by Kaiba.

Finally the door busted open and in came a man that looked like the stereotypical surfer with spiked black hair that wasn't as well-combed as Manjoume's, that man also wore a purely black shirt and shorts that were had a tint of black on the bottom that made it look like his shorts were partially burned. The man forcibly took Manjoume's hand and shook it.

"Ryota Kajiki, and you?" The man cheerfully greeted.

"Jun Manjoume" Manjoume replied, reenergized by the surprise that came with the other man's name.

Manjoume could have sworn that he had heard of Ryota before in a history book during his time on duel academy.

"Have you ever duelled Yugi Mutou?" Manjoume inquired.

"Yes, yes I have." The other answered proudly.

"I think I have heard about you before."

"You have?"

"From history class."

"And I think I have heard about you too!" Ryota said mockingly.

"Ojamanjoume!" Ryota added, looking to poke fun at the younger man.

" _Thunder"_ Manjoume turned to face the wall, effectively revoking the topic at hand.

"Hey, I am sorry about that. And I am also sorry about … what happened." Ryota apologized, changing from a cheerful to a low and sorrow tone.

"It's ok, it is not like it matters anyways as the world is likely in an apocalyptic state" Manjoume reassured the older man.

"There was also something that I wanted to know. You don't have to answer this but, how did you fall from Black Thunder to a joke? Like all of a sudden you were on a huge losing streak."

"I guess I just all of a sudden sucked. However I did notice something fishy. I have no evidence but if you think about it, ever since Pegasus's assassination I actually began to lose. I mean think about it, the founder of Duel Monsters was killed and then I, who was an undefeated pro duellist _began losing._ Something was obviously rigged."

"Maybe it was a coincidence."

"No think about it Ryota. Pegasus always held rights and oversaw the legitimacy of all tournaments as well as the legalization of cards in all official tournaments. Ever since he was killed we had this Kazuto guy who was running the tournaments. What is interesting is ever since Pegasus died do you know what cards got unbanned?"

"Last turn, Chaos Emperor Dragon, Cold Wave, Royal Oppression and Harpies Feather Duster."

"It was like they specifically wanted to counter my deck. Harpies Feather Duster destroys my main field spell which is Ojama Country along with my back row which consisted of vital cards such as Solidarity and Spell Jammer. Whilst Cold Wave and Royal Oppression prevented me from fusing my VWXYZ cards and Polymerization. And you can't forget Chaos Emperor Dragon as a backup board wipe and Last Turn as a last resort if everything fails."

"Hmm now that actually seems fishy. And the people who defeated you literally only had monsters that were normal summoned and they didn't even special summon once!"

"Hence how I lost my reputation and hence why I am thinking that they are specifically trying to counter my deck in the pro league. They are using cards that directly hinder my deck style whilst their deck is unaffected. I mean who runs Last Turn unless they are trying to combo with it?

"Hmm you're right, maybe they are biased against you. Unfortunately I can't help with that."

"I am not asking you to help me. Besides it doesn't matter now that we are here."

The conservation was held short and was interrupted by an announcement on the speakers stating for all "Rookie" rank people to move towards the training area. Both Manjoume and Ryota walked towards the training centre which just looked like a colossal plain white garage that spanned about 5 kilometres by 5 kilometres which also had a garage door hence why it resembles a white garage in the first place. The "captain" rank officers referred to as obviously "captains" called the garage door to be opened for everyone to come inside. As Manjoume and Ryota walked into the training centre Manjoume felt a sense of nostalgia as it was understandable that the duelling arenas inside the training centre were exact copies of the ones in duel academy. There were duel arenas with duel bots, duel arenas for 2, 3, 4, 5… up to 20 people at once! There was even a database for every card known in existence and every recorded combo and strategy ever played in an official tournament. Ryota and everyone else around were very excited about this duelling training centre due to its grand size and large number of assets. However their attention was shifted towards one of the captains, who Manjoume was also familiar with due to the fact that everyone had to study every opponent of Yugi, Jonouchi and Kaiba during history class at Duel Academy. The captain wore a green coat and yellow glasses, had light blue hair and had a rather mocking demeanour.

"I am the great Insector Haga you can train and duel freely in this centre at any time and for how long you want. We have a near limitless selection of each and every common to uncommon card here. We do have rarer cards, however they are… reserved for a higher rank and privilege. Anyways, construct your deck from the card pool or use your own deck if you so happen to have it with you or back at your cabin. There are also a ton of Duel disks in that room over there if you don't already have one. Good luck rookies!" Insector announced with a noticeable smirk and snicker when he said "rookies".

The entire crowd excluding the few who already had their deck with them raced to the card pool to build a deck. Manjoume and Ryota however stayed back.

"Insector! May I negotiate my accessibility of rarer than uncommon cards? I know I am only a rookie but I assure you Manjoume and I are… "

"Ah! If it isn't Fishman and Ojamanjoume! Nice to meet you." Insector said in a mocking tone whilst raising his hand for a handshake.

" _Thunder"_ Manjoume retorted

"Fishman? What the heck is that? Say my real name thank you."

"Oh! Look like someone wants to…. fight." Insector mocked. Insector was born a brat and had virtually no respect for people other than other brats. He would only show respect to Dinosaur Ryukazi, who was another brat. And Dartz because he along with Ryukazi wanted the power of the Orichalcos. There were also a few others that had Inspector's respect but none are worth mentioning.

"Just you wait!" Manjoume exclaimed as he scurried furiously of to the card pool. He had lost all his cards, his Ojamas, armed dragons and VWXYZ when he lost his duel to Asuka, which also meant that he nearly lost his life until Kaiba and Isono saved him and everyone else.

"Wait wait wait!" Ryota called out to Manjoume, who already looked like he was going to literally murder Insector.

"WHAT?!" Manjoume shouted.

"Uhh, I know he is a bit of a prick but think this through man! I mean we know that he has rare cards and I am assuming you don't even have your original deck with you judging from the fact that you are sprinting to the card pool."

"Don't worry, he is a pushover"

"We will see about that… Manjoume! Be prepared to lose!" Insector giggled.

Absolutely no one has gotten to Manjoume's nerve this much before. Sure, Manjoume did have a big ego. Even though he had been humiliated and mocked before it had never been this annoying. Judai may have beaten Manjoume near a dozen times but at least Judai did not rub it in too much. And all his other losses were alright as they were during serious times such as the Trueman attack or when the Light of Destruction was devastating the Academia. The blue haired brat just had this hint of annoyance and irritation in his voice that made Manjoume really snap.

When he reached the card pool he quickly started constructing his deck. After a long moment of pondering what type of deck he would use. He finally concluded that he would build a tempo deck which prevented his opponent from developing the field whilst he himself was accumulating field advantage at the cost of card advantage. He included cards such as magical cylinder, Compulsory Evacuation device, Book of moon and many more cards that greatly hindered the opponent's development. He had also added 1 pot of greed to compensate for his card disadvantage also.

Finally Manjoume was prepared. He walked up to the duel arena. The feeling of climbing up the stairs reminded him of his younger years. Walking up the stairs to duel his brothers for the fate of the Academia… And walking up the stairs to duel Judai.

"I'll make this quick!" Insector teased.

Manjoume ignored this and prepared and activated his duel disk.

"Duel!" They both shouted.

 _ **To be continued…**_

 **Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading! It would be grateful if you provided feedback for this chapter as long as it is constructive! I will also be introducing many many more characters from various series of yu gi oh as I am planning this story to develop into a big conflict!**

 **Also I would like to give a special thanks to Higuchimon for providing CRUCIAL FEEDBACK That I missed.**


	2. Chapter 2: Changes in the New World

A crowd of people gathered around Manjoume and Insector's duel arena. Some trainees from nearby duel arenas even paused their duels to watch the captain duel. Manjoume heard several "Oh, is that Ojamanjoume?" and "Isn't that the pro duellist that went into decline?" from many of the onlookers and witnesses to this battle. This really annoyed Manjoume, but he promised himself that he would win this decisive fight and regain both respect from the people watching him and his own pride.

Insector (4000) LP | Manjoume (4000) LP

"I will start first! I will set 1 face down and set a monster." Insector announced. Ever since Pegasus died the new chief of Duel Monsters tournaments, Kazuto Tenji changed the ruling of summoning defence position monsters so that monsters that are played in defence position must be set. This helped to balance the game so that people won't summon free draw or dump cards such as Royal Magical Library and Armageddon Knight without a risk of taking damage.

"That ends my turn." Insector smirked.

"Alright! My turn, draw!" Manjoume shouted. Manjoume wanted to finish him off quickly, amusingly enough Manjoume's deck contradicted his intentions as a tempo deck requires patients. Which Manjoume could barely contain at the moment.

"I play Reflect Bounder in attack mode! (1700/1000)." A mechanical menace appeared that was equipped with mirrors and a red cloak appeared to Manjoume's side.

"I attack your monster!" Manjoume exclaimed with anger and pride as his mechanical monster destroyed Insector's set monster.

"Just as I planned! You destroyed Mystic Tomato (1400/1100) which when destroyed lets me summon a Dark monster with 1500 or less attack points from my deck. And that monster shall be Inzektor Dragonfly." Insector summoned a man wearing a red robotic suit equipped with 4 wings which and goggles that resembled compound eyes, the man was also equipped with a small gun which were loaded with small harpoons. The man was obviously wearing a "dragonfly suit".

"Inzektor…" Manjoume thought. He had known this archetype and had studied it very well and knew that if he made even the slightest mistake he would swiftly be defeated in no more than a turn.

"Are you going to end your turn? You know I don't have all day right?" Insector interrupted Manjoume's train of thought.

"I set 3 face downs and end my turn!" His 3 face downs were Magical Cylinder, Threatening Roar and Mirror Force, he was confident that he would be able to survive next turn as he had a strong backrow.

"It is over Manjoume, nice playing with you" Insector playfully said with confidence that he _would_ win this turn. Manjoume however just ignored it and brushed it off as arrogance and overconfidence.

"I will attach Inzektor Hornet to my Dragonfly using the latter's effect." A tiny 30 cm tall man wearing an obvious "hornet suit" appeared, until shortly after folding himself transformer-style into a golden harpoon that looked like something coming out of a cyberpunk movie, which loaded itself into Dragonfly's gun.

"I will now activate Hornet's effect!"

"Wait! I chain by activating threatening roar!" Manjoume countered

"I activate my face down, Wiretap!" Insector nullified Manjoume's trap card. There was an electric surge that ran through Manjoume's face down card. The card then got burned up because of the electricity and returned to Manjoume's deck.

"And now my Hornet's effect will resolve with no interference!" Insector commanded his Dragonfly to fire its gun. The golden ammunition rocketed towards where Manjoume's threatening roar was. Since Manjoume chained threatening roar when Insector targeted it, the effect was going to resolve before Hornet's effect if it wasn't for Wiretap.

"Now I activate Dragonfly's effect! I can special summon 1 "Inzektor" except another Dragonfly. I summon Inzektor Centipede!" A large man wearing a "centipede" suit that was equipped with large arm blades and light blue goggles appeared.

"Now I attach Inzektor Giga Mantis to dragonfly!" A large being appeared that didn't even seem like it was a person wearing an insect suit. This creature was fully covered in Mantis armour with massive arm blades about three times the size as centipedes. Its face was fully covered with a mask, therefore making it appear as "fully robotic" as you cannot see even a part of its face. The Mantis opened up to reveal an Ironman suit-like interior with circuits, this "suit" then latched on and covered dragonfly head to toe. Dragonfly now looked like he was in a green mechsuit.

"Now due to Mantis's effect when it is attached to a monster the monster that is equipped has its original attack points changed to 2400! (1000-2400)

"I equip hornet from the graveyard to centipede to destroy Reflect Bounder!" Insector roared as the hornet harpoon destroyed Reflect Bounder.

"Finally I activate Heavy Storm." Weevil smiled.

"Heavy Storm!? This is bad, Manjoume knew what we had coming and already knew from his studying of the Inzektors that he had already lost. The storm continued to blow away his backrow along with dragonfly's Mantis suit.

"Dragonfly's effect activates again! Now I special summon another Centipede from my deck." Another centipede appears and Insector now has three monsters on the field.

"Now I attack you directly!" Insector shouted in triumph, already sure that he would win.

Manjoume was hit by a regular harpoon by Dragonfly (4000-3000), and then was finally greeted by a cross-slash by two centipede's (3000-0). The slashes sent Manjoume flying out of the duel arena where the crowd caught him. Insector laughed hysterically as his opponent was helped by the crowd and walked out of the training centre with a mischievous grin.

"Damn… I lost" Manjoume muttered with embarrassment.

"It is not your fault, I bet if you had had your original deck with you that you would have owned him!" Said a woman from the crowd.

"Yeah! You fought for us rookies Manjoume!" shouted another encouragingly.

"Wait guys, hold on don't overestimate him people. After all he did lost in _one_ turn." Insulted a woman with spiky long red hair, who also wore a black leather jacket with ripped jeans.

"As if you would have stood a chance!" Ryota finally butted in.

"You are absolutely correct! That is why I wasn't impulsive and foolish enough to challenge him." The woman snapped back.

"Spike, it is not impulsiveness, it is courage" An old man with a monocle and a grey rag as a coat joined the argument.

"Spike! Hahahahaha, isn't that a boy's name? Ryota mocked.

"Yes, it is! Got a problem with that? The red haired woman with a bad attitude from before answered in a furious tone.

"Dinner time!" Called a seemingly transsexual blond man with dark purple lipstick.

"C-C-Cr-Cronos!?" Manjoume stuttered. "Why the hell would Cronos sensei be here?" Manjoume thought to himself.

"Manjoume-kun?" Cronos was surprised, how near the end of graduation Cronos missed the third-years who were about to graduate so much that he would even try to stop their graduation all together. Seeing Manjoume again was a joy. Although Cronos was a bit of an odd teacher in the end everyone realised that he did good for the students. Besides, it was Cronos who answered the phone call to put Manjoume in the pro league.

"So it is you! Hahahahaha…" Cronos greeted as he pulled Manjoume outside the centre. Outside the centre Cronos whispered in Manjoume's ear.

"Boy I need to talk to you about something… Meet me at Cabin 537 after dinner ok?"

"About what?" Manjoume Inquired quietly.

"You will know when we are there" Cronos spoke in a serious tone. Manjoume thought that it was rather strange that Cronos would be speaking in this serious tone. In fact, the students at duel academy never ever saw Cronos speak this seriously ever.

The rookies were to go to the Rookie Dining Area to eat. The building resembled slifer red dorm's canteen and eating area very closely. Manjoume was used to eating Slifer food quality meals. However many other rookies, notably Ryota took a while to swallow their meal. Their meal wasn't even that bad, it's just that the duck egg was excessively salted. However Ryota preferred seafood. After Dinner it was finally time.

Manjoume asked directions to where Cabin 537 was. He had to spend over 10 minutes asking around as he kept on getting rejected with "Why is a rookie going to the lieutenant cabin area?" However he finally found somebody to help guide him to the cabin. Manjoume knocked on the door and was shortly greeted by Cronos and then gestured to come inside. Judging by Cronos's body language it was obvious that this conversation they were going to have was covert. Cronos sat Manjoume down and poured them both hot green tea.

"Wait, you have tea on your cabins?" Manjoume questioned.

"Uh, uh yeah, I am Lieutenant rank so I get a few luxuries in my accommodation."

"Wait, so you are _Lieutenant_ rank which means that you are good enough to be a rank one below captain?"

"I am honestly not that good compared to you Manjoume, however I have greatly improved since we last met as I have refined my skills as a duellist during this war, speaking of war…" Cronos spontaneously changed into a more serious tone drastically.

"Do you know what happened to Asuka, Judai, Shou and the others?"

"They all got defeated by the darkness. And were then brainwashed to become its servant. I tried to bring at least Asuka back to the good side, but I failed... I deeply regretted failing to protect her. I've always failed to impress her."

"Don't you worry Manjoume-kun, something tells me that you two will meet again sometime. And when that time comes you will succeed! Anyways, how did you escape?"

"I don't know really… I thought that I was going to be because Asuka defeated me. But somehow when I woke up a while later I was unchanged. They then decided to execute me and that is when I was saved. So how did you enrol to fight the darkness?"

"I obviously had a connection with Kaibacorp due the fact that I was a teacher at Duel Academy."

"Hey, you don't sound as though you're stupid anymore!" Manjoume teased, attempting to brighten the mood.

"WHAT YOU SAY?! SLIFER?" Cronos exclaimed, temporarily reverting back to his old self.

"About slifer… I was surprised at how you managed to enter the Pro League." Cronos returned to a lower tone.

"Yeah…" Manjoume answered with a sigh.

"That reminds me… I hold documents from our covert operations on the Darkness. I bet you would be intrigued by this". Cronos opened a safe next to his bed which contained everything form memoirs, photos and his own deck, and of course other documents. Cronos propped the document out on the table for Manjoume to read.

" _The death of Pegasus connected to the fall of Jun Manjoume a.k.a 'Manjoume Thunder'". Various decisions from the new president of Pro League tournaments Kazuto Tenji such as the banning/unbanning of cards as well as the affiliation of duellists have connections with the Darkness"_ Manjoume read.

"Wait, so you are saying that a current global superpower such as the Darkness put so much effort into removing me, one person from the Pro League?" Manjoume questioned, obviously interested.

"Yes, it is because you are the only undefeated duellist in pro league history, you are considered the strongest duellist currently alive by news articles Manjoume."

"So do you have any proof of these claims? Sure, I mean I did suspect that the Pro League was biased against me, but only because I was too good… But why would the Darkness aim for me rather than say… Kaiba?" Manjoume questioned, with a hint of his former ego at "because I was too good…"

"First off. They did target Kaiba, but failed due to Kaiba's duelling talent and the amount of support he had from his bodyguards and connections with various organizations and companies around the world such as Schroeder Corp. And secondly we do have proof. Who is that man in the photograph on the bottom right of this document?"

"Kazuto Tenji…" Manjoume answered as they both looked at the picture. Kazuto in the photo wore a white hat and a white tuxedo. He had a short moustache and red sunglasses. Not much can be seen of his face due to the angle of the shot and that a portion of his face was bandaged. But Cronos pointed out an odd detail.

"You see that bandage?"

"Uh… yes, so?"

"Doesn't the red mark on top of the bandage look familiar to you?"

"Looks like just a cut to me"

"No, that is not a cut, look at the picture and then look at this." Cronos said as he whipped out a picture bearing a demonic figure that red had horns and was jet black.

"I've seen that before!" Manjoume said loudly with surprise.

"Yes, you probably have. This is the symbol of Darkness. A Grim Reaper with red horns. Now look at that cut, do you see a similarity?"

"Yes, yes I do! That resembles one of the red horns on the symbol!"

"There is your evidence, Manjoume."

They would continue talking about their odds of winning this war and the war itself, as well as the inner workings of Kaibacorp and the connections they had with other companies trying to fight off the darkness. An explanation of each rank and its privileges was also told to Manjoume. They then revoked the topic entirely and started conversing about what they did when Manjoume's year level graduated and what their daily lives were before the disaster struck. Their time became more of a light-hearted mood and they felt that they had returned back to the good old times before the disaster struck. Unfortunately it was midnight and Manjoume had to return to his cabin. Cronos said one last thing to Manjoume as they exchanged goodbyes.

"Keep this in mind Manjoume-kun… Tomorrow you will be deployed to fight the Darkness! Be careful boy," Cronos warned, knowing that he telling Manjoume to be careful may tick the younger man off.

"Don't worry, it will be a piece of cake." Manjoume, unfazed by the tease returned with a smile, arrogance and confidence which he hoped wouldn't be overconfidence.

Manjoume returned to his cabin and went to sleep in his hard, rough bed. Although he missed the luxury of his mansion. He felt as though he was back to the old days a Duel Academy in Slifer Red dorm.

 _ **Authors Note:**_

 _ **Thank you for reading this chapter, I may update once every 4 days. Have a good day readers 3**_


	3. Chapter 3: The Incoming Darkness

The night was quiet and dull, both devoid of light and sound. This was surprising for an "army camp". You would think that in an army camp you would hear the roar of jeep engines or the blow off the wind as helicopters land. However in this "army camp" which Manjoume and Ryota agreed to call "the Haven" was suspiciously quiet. You would think that a fortified area would be heavily guarded. But do not forget that this is not a war fought with guns and bombs but a war fought with the very spirit of monsters and creatures summoned from another dimension. You didn't need constant lights to see the enemy coming like in the traditional conventional war. You just needed people who would miss sleep to duel for the protection of the camp.

After his talk with Cronos sensei all he could think of was the old days at duel academy and his rise and fall from fame and stardom. Everyone and everything has changed since then.

"I can't take this anymore…" Manjoume thought. As he quietly put on his clothes, especially his iconic black coat. Being careful not to wake up his newly made friend. He carefully opened the door, luckily there was no wind to make the air whistle into the room which would have caused quite a racket. He closed the door to his cabin and walked to the main entrance and exit of the army camp. There were dozens of people who would look like just random civilians as they all wore casual clothes. But the former pro knew that they were duellists guarding the entrance.

"Open the door." Manjoume said with a commanding tone.

"Why should we let you out?" one of them retorted.

"Why should I tell you punk?"

"Because you could be a spy, trying to gain information from us and reporting it back to our enemy!" another one answered.

"I just want to go out for a walk, to catch a breath and see nature. Is that a good enough reason for you?"

"Don't talk to us that way, scum. We don't want to cause trouble here." The largest one of them shouted whilst crackling his knuckles.

"What is your name?" The same, large man added.

"Call me _Thunder_ " Manjoume answered in a rough tone.

"I asked what your name was!" The behemoth grabbed Manjoume and threw him into the concrete ground.

Manjoume felt searing pain throughout his body. But he had other things to think about which slightly lessened it. With a lot of effort he managed to lift himself up and barely stand before the bulky man. If this was him back then he would have instantly ran away no questions asked. But now he had had enough of people bossing him around. He wanted to change things back to what it once was. Being a CEO of his own company and being filthy rich, telling people what to do whilst having countless fans who admired and even worshipped him in the duelling world.

"Why don't we have a duel? You are must be the courageous type, picking on someone nearly half your size!" Manjoume teased, hoping that the ego will get to him. Because if it didn't then he himself would be a goner.

"Ok..." The behemoth smiled, obviously trying to supress his rage for the smaller man.

Manjoume hot out his deck he made earlier in the day, or yesterday as it was currently 1:07 am according to his expensive watch that he got specially made for him by a famous designer.

"May I please have a duel disk?" Manjoume asked with a mocking demeanour.

One of them threw a duel disk at Manjoume, intending for it to hit his head and potentially knock him out. Manjoume however caught it swiftly with his left hand.

"What is your name?" Manjoume asked his opponent

"Mizu." The man answered proudly.

"Water boy… how cute" Manjoume teased, attempting to get to Mizu's nerve.

"Let's get this over with!" The attempt was successful. And "water boy" exclaimed utter rage.

"Duel!" They both shouted.

Manjoume: 4000LP|Mizu:4000LP

"I summon Axe Raider In attack mode! (1700/1150), and end my turn!" Mizu shouted.

"You lose…" Manjoume smiled.

"How? You haven't even begun your turn yet!"

"I draw. First, I play Dark world dealings!" Manjoume shouted as they both drew 1 and discarded 1 card.

"Now, since I discarded Makyura the Destructor, I can play trap cards from my hand this turn!" Manjoume continued.

"I play Raigeki Break! Now by sending 1 card from my hand to the grave I can destroy 1 monster you control! And I destroy Axe Raider!" Manjoume explained as the Axe Raider was zapped by the lightning and destroyed.

"Now I special summon the Alexandrite Dragon (2000/100) which I discarded to the grave via Raigeki Break's effect with Call of the Haunted! Now I summon Marauding Captain (1200/400) and use its effect to special summon another Marauding Captain (1200/400)!"

"Now I attack you with Alexandrite Dragon!" Manjoume declared and attack and the dragon whipped Mizu with its powerful gem-coated tail (4000-2000).

"Ha! You fell for my trap! I special summon Gorz the Emissary of Darkness! (2700/2500) from my hand! In addition to this powerful monster I get to summon an Emissary Token equal to the amount of damage I…" The man said triumphantly, but then was interrupted by his opponent.

"Fruitless effort, I activate Solemn Notice from my hand (4000-2500)!" Manjoume interrupted as a man with a long white beared appeared and struck Gorz down with divine lightning.

"It's over! Now activate with both my remaining monsters!" Manjoume finished as his two Marauding Captains cut Mizu with a cross shaped attack (2000-0).

Mizu crashed down to the ground and was weakened from the humiliating victory. Manjoume walked over to the now pitiful behemoth, and started kicking him whilst he was on the floor.

"That was for throwing me on the ground before." Manjoume grinned. Happy that he got his revenge.

He then picked up Gorz the Emissary of Darkness among the scattered cards on the floor.

"And this is for refusing to call me _Thunder._ " He picked up the card and promptly placed it on top of his own deck and shuffled it.

"Hey! That's my c…" Mizu tried to finish his sentence but was silenced by kick to the face.

"And that is for refusing to open the gate." Manjoume spat at his fallen opponent and began walking towards the gate.

"Open." Manjoume commanded.

The guards, who were now terrified of the professional duellist opened the gate with absolutely no hesitation. Manjoume "walked" out of the gate and into the forest which was beyond. It was obvious that he wasn't walking and that he was limping and obviously still feeling the pain of being thrown down into the concrete. Manjoume was obviously trying to hide the fact that his pain lingered even though the guards obviously knew otherwise, but kept their mouths shut.

He managed to walk for 5 minutes but then collapsed, he found himself sitting on the dirt ground with his back leaning against a tree trunk. He realised that the adrenaline from his duel earlier finally wore out. He experience the full pain throughout his body, he sat there pondering and contemplating a memory which he never forgot.

" _Alright love! Just sit there and behave and I will be back after I prepare the icing ok?"_ A woman with blonde hair said lovingly to her 3 year old son.

The toddler nodded with a big smile. He always loved cake, especially when it was his mum who made it, the local cake shop was rather boring for the boy as they had to follow health restrictions and had a limit to how much sugar they put in their cakes.

The boy fiddled with a picture he drew for his mother earlier, turning it one way and flipping it one way. The boy was obviously proud of his work. However soon he felt a sharp feeling on his fingertip which he would later know was a paper cut. Soon a cry was heard throughout entire room and the mother quickly ran to the scene.

" _Jun-chan, are you alright?"_ His mother quickly said, very concerned for her boy. And was very paranoid about the boy's current stage as he is almost always quiet and well behave and it took a lot to cause a tantrum from her angel.

She then quickly notice a red cut on her child's left index finger and immediately grabbed a band aid from the pantry to wrap up the cut. She quickly held the sobbing baby and calmed him down by gently rocking him.

The little Manjoume knew that absolutely nothing could hurt him when his mother was with him, but now he learnt that that rule did not apply when she wasn't there. After all these years That little boy still remembered the first time ever that he got hurt physically, and he would carry this memory even up till now.

" _Mother, if only you were here. Things would have been way easier wouldn't it?_ " The thought lingered in Manjoume's head until he quickly came to his senses and decided it was time to return to his cabin as he had already cleansed his mind of the stress that he had been enduring ever since being captured. Whether it was the walk, his memory of his mother or the duel with water boy that finally relaxed his mind and rid of his stress, he didn't know and he didn't care. Realizing that the pain had subsided, he walked to the main gate.

"Open!" The distinct voice made the guards shudder and like before, they opened the gate without hesitation.

He loved being superior again, he always wanted to be in control. He was in control of his own company, he was in control those guards and he was even "in control" of the hunt for Amnael back in his academy days. But that all change when he was wrongfully charged in court he remembered. And that also all change when he was disowned from his family. But Manjoume saw that things were brightening up and that he began to regain his "control" of other people, and more importantly himself. Manjoume fell asleep in his hard bed, although Ryota was snoring very loudly the noise did not overcome Manjoume's sleepiness.

"Moooorning Slackers!" Cronos yelled at Manjoume's dorm.

The two men groaned, got dressed and brushed their teeth with the toiletries supplied to them. Manjoume welcomed the former professor in. He would not have done this years ago, but he began to acknowledge Cronos-sensei took to ensure the best for his students and this was the least he could do at the moment.

"So… How early do you even have to wake up? It seems like a difficult job to wake up every cabin in this area of the base. Besides don't we set our own alarms to the required time?" Manjoume questioned as he finished brushing his teeth and began to prepare toast.

"As a matter of fact that is not even my job! I just came here to say hello to you slackers!"

"What's up with 'slacker', I am not a mere student anymore."

"You still are to me!" Cronos was clearly heart torn when Manjoume's year level graduated, so it is easy to understand why Cronos changed from "Cronos" to more of a "Daitokuji".

"And who is he?" Ryota asked Manjoume curiously.

"We were old... friends. I mean he was one of my teachers back when I was at the Academia."

"Oh… I see, hahaha you must be a really good teacher to have taught Thunder over here!" Ryota jokingly remarked to the blonde man.

"He wasn't _that_ good, I also learned from life experiences."

" _Sure you did, slifer"_ Cronos hinted a fact that he knew would push Manjoume's buttons.

Knowing that Manjoume was trying to suppress his fury. Ryota changed the subject to a more important and relevant one.

"I heard from others that we are going to be deployed to an espionage operation here. But I want to ask you something Cronos-san. Why can't we just use actual weapons? Why do we have to duel these guys? What about nuclear weapons and all that? Why can't we just end it right then and there? I mean surely Kaibacorp would have nuclear weapons as the company also has ties with the military."

"Boy you ask to many questions. But to keep a long story short in is kind of a mutual agreement between us and them. If either of us would result to conventional warfare then the other will join. If we used weapons of mass destruction then they would as well. The world would be doomed and we will both lose. Duelling reveals one's true strength, and that is a fair way to determine which side truly deserves to live in this world."

"Well then why can't we just use guns, or weapons that are not of mass destruction? Ryota asked, now really confused.

"Because the same scenario would happen. It would be too scary to go up to them and say "Here are the rules, anything goes except weapons of mass destruction". One side would use guns, the other follows. Then it will slowly escalate. From guns, to artillery, to bombs, to missles and then finally one side gives up and just blows up everything as a last resort."

"Well then if we can't just go up to them and say "Here are the rules we agree on." Then how did create this mutual agreement to duel in the first pla…"

"Because one's heart and intentions are revealed in a duel." Manjoume interrupted their discussion.

"Well then wouldn't the situation still happen even when we are duelling? One side is about to lose then they blow up the world as a last resort."

"Young man… You still have a lot to learn. Anyone can play dirty in a conventional war. But if you play dirty in or "cheat" in a duel. You will never truly win. Let us assume that they nuked us and win the war immediately. After that no one will follow them so they too lose."

"I am 32 mine you."

"Also, in addition there can never be a situation that is impossible to win in dueling, unlike in conventional war or chess where there are situations where it is literally impossible to win, so it is highly unlikely they would take us with them if they are 'about to lose'" Manjoume added.

"Sorry to end this conversation _big boy_ but I think you two have to be at the submarine in around 2 minutes." Cronos teased knowing that that will get into the sea man's nerves.

Manjoume and Ryota ran to the submarine, they made it just in time to be boarded on the submarine.

"He really got on my nerves" Ryota cringed in annoyance.

"Do not take it personally, he obvious loves you." Manjoume chuckled.

"Ok, whoever defeats the most people wins! I mean of course I will win unsurprisingly…" Manjoume added both to the conversation and the annoyance of Ryota.

"Were you always like this, like back in the Academy as well?"

"Yes…"

"Some things never change."

"That is true, and applies to the fact that I am the best!"

"We'll see about that! Will we… Manjoume!" They both looked at each other eagerly. To the amusement of the surrounding people, they were the only ones who were not terrified of what was about to come.

 **Author's note: Sorry for whoever is reading this for the long update. But I may update around next week.** _ **Also some of the card names in this fic will be a mixture between Japanese translation and English printing, so cards like Solemn Strike will be called Solemn Notice.**_

 **Have a good day guys. Concrit is appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Mission

"Oi kids, don't act so relaxed. This is war!" an old man shouted at the two.

"First off we weren't talking to you, second off all you got the great Manjoume Thunder and the guy who duelled and nearly defeated Yugi Muto here! Nothing's going to be hard…" Manjoume smirked.

"You were the one who got smoked yesterday at the training centre… am I correct?" The old man retaliated.

"Oh… so you're the man who told off that woman." Manjoume replied, trying to be passive to and suppressing his anger to kind of repay the old man for standing up for him.

"Yes. My name is Rodrick Von Dantes."

"What a weir… uh I mean unique name, a mixture of cultures I see"

"Yes yes, But enough of this small talk. Time to tell you turn what an espionage mission is! First off you cannot go in and just duel anyone. We have to sneak in. One group of Kaibacorp's elite hackers will hack the entrances once we go to the control centre of this underwater base. The sealing of the doors will disallow any reinforcements to enter the area. In the control centre we will honourably duel the officials there, after we defeat them, I will mess up the pipe systems in the panels so that the base will self-destruct."

"So… why did Ryota and I not know this before-hand?"

"Because you did they probably forgot to send you a memo."

"The memo?"

"Inside your letterbox silly!"

" _The letterbox?"_ Both Manjoume and Ryota collapse in utter disappointment as they both cringed at themselves for forgetting a simple task as opening the letterbox. It was _slightly_ understandable as Manjoume himself often received messages via email or his PDA in duel academy. And did not receive many formal letters from his family for obvious reasons. Ryota on the other hand just simply forgot out of irresponsibility.

"It is kind of weird that we are doing stealth missions with cards" Ryota said as he recovered quickly from his earlier disappointment.

"If it wasn't weird already to kill people or send them to a hellish dimension with a card game, then I don't know what is." Manjoume replied, him too finally recovered.

"Gentlemen, are you ok with me watch you two duel. I am curious of the capabilities of your duelling skills." The old man asked politely.

"… We should make this a table duel to not cause too much attention. I don't like it when there are a lot of screams and noise from the crowd when I am trying to concentrate on analysis." Rodrick added.

The men walked to a quiet table in a corner of the submarine passenger room. After a brief moment of setting up their decks, shuffling and coin flipping to decide who goes first. The two men faced each other.

"Duel."

|Manjoume:4000LP|Ryota:4000LP|

"Since I won the coin toss, I will go first." Manjoume said quietly, however his enthusiasm was not hidden by the lack in volume.

"I draw! I set a monster in defence mode (?/?), and end my turn!"

"Only 1 monster? I draw. Then I summon Atlantean Dragoons!" Ryota confidently materialised a plan to overcome Manjoume's defence.

"Even now you still stick to the sea eh?" Manjoume commented.

"Yes, even now after my deck was stolen by them my heart is still with the sea!"

"You do have to be… a little bit flexible sometimes you know?"

"We shall see about that. I attack your face down!" Ryota continued without hesitation.

Rodrick observed the duel with amusement. He noticed that not only are these duellist a representation of their own respective duelling styles. But they are a representation of their own respective eras as well.

Ryota was a representation of Yugi's era, an era where Duel monsters was at its infancy and not many variations or combos were discovered, Yugi's era was primarily represented by the emphasis of field advantage, keeping your monsters alive with card effects and occasionally making them stronger and removing cards from your opponent's field. Overall the era composed of raw "beat stick" monsters with high attack points protected by set cards at the backrow with the occasional exception of duellists like Yugi himself and Katsuya Jonouchi.

Manjoume on the other hand was the representation of… his own era which can be called the "Black Thunder era". Monsters focused more on adaptability in this era as supposed to situational advantages in Yugi's era. Iconic cards in the pro league such as Cyber Blader used by the "Ice Queen" Asuka Tenjoin were arguably better than "Alligator's Sword Dragon" From Yugi's era as Cyber Blader not only had a much more adaptable effect as it depended on the amount of monsters your opponent controls. And not the element of your opponent's monsters. But it also has a more varied ability list as well. Manjoume's era also emphasised more on graveyard, deck and hand manipulation as shown by cards like card destruction, inferno tempest and the more prominent use of Call of the Haunted and Foolish Burial than the era before as the Pro league realised more of the potential of the graveyard. As a common Pro League saying is "Monsters don't truly die. They only return to your hand as the graveyard is the extension of your hand". The graveyard was so prominent that strategies that banish cards also became more prominent along with it. In conclusion the more recent era traded stronger monsters for more manipulative opportunities.

"Since you attacked my face-down with the Dragoons. I activate its flip effect!" Manjoume smirked as Rodrick's train of thought was interrupted by Manjoume's card flipping face up to activate its flip effect. This was what he thought would have happened if Ryota attacked Manjoume's monster.

"My face-down monster was Penguin Soldier! I get to return up to two monsters on the field to the hand… and i choose your Dragoons!" Manjoume added, in his mind hoping that Ryota would question the rulings of Penguin Soldier targeting only 1 card so that he could crush him in terms of card rulings.

"Hey! Doesn't Penguin Soldier have to target two monsters?" Ryota questioned, causing Manjoume inside to shake in excitement, eager to roast the older man.

"Actually, the rulings state that this is legal. And that the new card errata implies that it is up to two monsters." Rodrick answered, noticing Manjoume's disappointment of not saying it himself.

Manjoume smirked at Ryota, sure it was just an obscure ruling that not many people knew. But Manjoume still looked down at Ryota with inferiority and a smirk. Of course he didn't really want to hurt Ryota emotionally, just to tick him off slightly.

Ryota noticing this, having had already gotten used to Manjoume's persona and knew that it he did not meant it. Continued his turn with no hint of anger which in turn ticked the younger duellist of. Which obviously sent a feeling of amusement to the sea man.

"I set three cards facedown, and end my turn!"

"I draw…" Manjoume exclaimed, this time not bothering to even consider the fact that he would cause attention as he was now very excited about the current duel. However the men were interrupted by a bell ring, which Rodrick informed them both that in meant that they arrived at their destination. The three men got out of the submarine onto a submarine base. Just like the crowd they did this silently and Ryota was even tip toeing.

"Ok listen kids, both of you should know this. Kaiba-sama hands out promotions to those with good initiative and who go above and beyond the call of duty. So I suggest after we get this over and done with we should steal some submarines before this place explodes."

"First off… This is the second time I have been called a child today. Second of all, how are we going to steal a submarine? And finally how did we manage to sneak into _their_ base? Ryota both complained to and questioned the old man.

"I am twice your age, I know how to drive a submarine. And we stole the submarine we were in. And managed to also steal an ID of an official, this allowed us to gain access. That answers all your questions." Rodrick answered.

Everyone was commanded by a captain who was leading this operation to enter their designated groups. Each group was tasked with an objective, and a precise time to achieve that objective. Ryota and Manjoume however did not know what group number they were in… nor did they even know their objective let along the time to achieve it. They only knew the ultimate objective of the operation as the whole but not the minor objectives they were tasked that lead up to the final job.

"What group are we in?" Manjoume inquired to Rodrick.

"It was in the mem…"

"Forget I asked."

"It doesn't matter really. We can just do our own thing…" Rodrick suggested.

"What?! But you were the one to tell us to listen and not kick ass and go in guns blazing in the first place!" Ryota whispered with an angry tone at the much older man.

"Well… no. I was just explaining how an espionage mission works. I wasn't saying you _can't_ go in guns blazing." Rodrick stuttered

Both of the younger men sighed heavily. Rodrick did have a valid excuse but they both knew that he meant to tell them that they couldn't go in recklessly and that he only said that to avoid being a hypocrite.

"You know… you should not bend your words posh guy!" Manjoume said with a serious tone to Rodrick.

"Fine… you got me" Rodrick replied, trying to act calm and collected.

"Gentlemen, I highly recommend that you follow me." Rodrick commanded as he adjusted his monocle.

"And how do you know where you are going? Do you have a map or something?" Manjoume inquired.

"It just so happens that I have a copy of the map of a previous submarine base I went to in my monocle. And it so happens that their submarine bases are all the same."

Rodrick ran in the opposite direction to the rest of the people on the operation. And along followed Ryota and Manjoume. Rodrick ran with surprising speed for an old man. Both duellists were astounded.

"What? So they have no variation at all?" Manjoume asked curiously as they were running

"Well… they _kind of_ do. You see boy. They can change an entire layout of the base with just a button on the control panel. You are a duel legend Manjoume, surely you are studious enough to know the duel between the Paradox Brothers and Yugi Mutou?"

"In fact I do."

"You know what occurred when the Paradox brothers activated Magical Labyrinth?"

"I see what you mean."

"So wouldn't cost less resources to just build submarine bases with singular but different layouts?" Ryota asked Rodrick with his usual curiosity. He was never this curious until he quit professional duelling at a young age of 30 to observe the other aspects of life.

"Because it is there philosophy. Everything has to be optimal for them." Rodrick answered as he stopped at a steel security door. Both Manjoume and Ryota puffed heavily to catch their breath.

" _Why do old people know nearly everything?"_ Manjoume thought as he pictured Chrono-sensei and many other wise and old people in his head, including Daitokuji. Who was now a yellow spirit ball according to Judai during a brief encounter they had during one of his world tours.

"I will explain later Ryota. We have to get on to the real business now. From what I recall this door is always locked. So once I kick it open you two will bust in. Duel everyone and win quickly. You boys ready?" Rodrick whispered.

"You… kicking open a metal security do…?" Ryota was about to question Rodrick but was interrupted by a loud bang as Rodrick's metal leg made a huge dent in the door with a kick.

"A mechanical leg? What the heck?" Manjoume and Ryota shouted. Both stunned by the surprise.

"Yes, titanium alloy with carbon nanotube wiring, or coordinated by an advanced computer using Kaibacorp technology." Rodrick described his prized limb as he broke open the door."

As Ryota and Manjoume rushed in the officers in the door immediately pulled out their duel disks. The officers wore jet black clothing with a red insignia of "The Darkness" on their hats. as well as decoration badges just like the conventional army.

" _So the "mutual agreement" Chrono-sensei talked about wasn't complete trash, eh?"_ Manjoume thought and was relieved inside. Chrono-sensei was not a man he would _always_ trust and he was glad that the former professor can be trusted at times like this.

Ryota and Manjoume took on all the officers in the room at once, and defeated them easily. Luckily for the tag-team life points were shared across teams. So they shared 4000 life points and the officers shared 4000 life points. All it took was for them to focus on 1 officer to defeat the entire bunch.

As soon as the officers were defeated, Rodrick quickly started doing some fast typing which both men knew was hacking. A secret door opened as soon as Rodrick stopped typing, revealing a submarine that was idle. Rodrick signalled the boys to run inside the submarine. As soon as they were inside Rodrick took the "drivers" seat and started steering the submarine.

"Don't you need multiple people to run a submarine?" Manjoume asked.

"Usually, yes! But these submarines have special computers which make it so only one person is required to run this." Rodrick answered with a smile, showing that driving a submarine was definitely his expertise.

" _He can hack, he can drive a submarine and he can duel judging from his analytical look during the duel of Ryota and I, is there anything this guy cannot do?"_ Manjoume asked himself inside his mind.

"So what are we going to do after we hijack this submarine?" Ryota exclaimed, so that his voice wouldn't be drowned out by the roaring of the submarine reactor.

"Drive to the control panel." Rodrick smiled.

"You are so crazy!" Manjoume shouted.

"I know." Rodrick laughed hysterically.

Their submarine reached a large metal pillar which was apparently the control panel according to Rodrick. The steel pillar was just a plain dark turquoise metal pillar with the numbers "01" on it. None of them including Rodrick knew what the number meant. But they prepared themselves for what was to be one of the most reckless things each of them have done in their lives.

"Are you boys ready?"

"Uh… y-y-yes we are!" Manjoume reluctantly answered, although hesitantly as he knew there was no turning back now and that Rodrick would still force them to do it even if he said no.

The Rodrick dived the submarine deeper and deeper into the water, going pass a security gate which scanned the submarine and verified that the submarine was a valid one owned by "The Darkness".

"Are you ready for this again boys?" Rodrick inquired again.

"Yes!" Ryota and Manjoume whispered, now prepared.

Rodrick kicked open the security door, revealing the interiors of the control panel. It was like what you would think of the interiors of a spaceship. The walls were filled with lights, which was later identified to be individual buttons that lighted up when examined more closely by the three men. But what was most distinct was a man in an Ojama Yellow suit being laughed at by his fellow officers.

"Hey, is that my suit!?" Manjoume shouted, alerting all the officers.

 _ **To be continued**_


	5. Chapter 5: New Advancements

"Is that my suit?" Manjoume inquired to the officers.

"Aniki?"

"Black?" Ryota could have sworn that he saw Manjoume legitimately smile as the former pro duellist called out, he couldn't be surprised. After all Ojama Black was one of the three infamous "Ojama Trio", Manjoume's ace monster cards.

"Have I told you to stop dancing?" one of the officers exclaimed to the Ojama in a robotic voice.

"N-No sir, uh yes! I will dance again!"

"The only one who bosses that little brat is me!" Manjoume said to the officer in a furious tone as though he was going to tear him apart limb by limb.

"And what is your identification code? As you know my one is E567$!" A slim officer questioned Manjoume in a human voice as supposed to the robotic one of the other.

"uhhh….w-we" Ryota stuttered.

"It appears that…" The third and final officer, who was the one dressed in the Ojama yellow suit alluded to the slim officer in a robotic voice, but stopped his own sentence to not alert the three intruders.

"Ohh! That's why they had to break open the door! Stupid me! I should have known, battle stations!" The officer exclaimed with an expression and pose so exaggerated that it was melodramatic even compared to everything and everyone both Manjoume and Ryota experienced and met during their duel monsters careers, and that included Pegasus and Judai.

In literally 5 seconds the two officers with robotic voices transformed into separate metal frames which then combined to form a giant exoskeleton fit with a duel disk which attached around the human officer, all while foam and white stuffing rained down as the Ojama yellow suit was ripped to shreds during the show.

"Nooooo the suit!" Ojama black exclaimed whilst Manjoume himself couldn't care less as his bad memories of his time as a "duelling clown" were shredded.

The officer who was now equipped with a mech-suit descended to face the three intruders. Expressions were mixed around the room, both Manjoume and Ryota literally fell on the bottoms in surprise and Black fainted in shock, whilst Rodrick remained unfazed and gave a shrug signifying that "he had seen better".

"My name Fayden, it's time to kill you!"

"For something as cruel as killing you sure say it so casually!" Ryota smirked.

"Let's get this over with!" Manjoume exclaimed in anticipation to crush their new enemy.

|Fayden:12000|Ryota & Manjoume: 4000|

"WHAT! 12000 life points!?" Ryota complained at the unfairness.

"Yes, the powers of my two androids combined with my own strength has resulted in my enhanced durability as you see here."

"Ryota, remember that we still have one advantage over him and it's that for every turn he takes we have two. Keep in mind that life is overall just a resource, and that life is pretty irrelevant if you have board control and good card advantage, someone with 10000 life points with nothing on the board and no cards in his hand can and will usually lose to someone with 1 life point with good back row and a monster to keep attacking as well as a good hand to replenish losses." Manjoume assessed their advantages for Ryota, trying to calm his friend down.

"Let's do this! I dra…" Fayden attempted to start the duel but was cut off by Manjoume.

"Wait, you can't draw on your first turn if you are the first to play!"

"Hey! You drew on your first time during our duel on the submarine…" Ryota still remembered their duel and couldn't help but point this out.

"T-That was a casual game!" Manjoume answered back irritated, the hesitance in his voice basically said "I forgot about that" to Ryota.

"Hah! Manjoume, although you are kind of a hypocrite I must confess that I too forgot about that rule."

"Hey old man! Why aren't you duelling as… oh, that won't work. Uh… you see, that mainframe is connected to my head." The man in the mech-suit added.

"That's unfortunate. I guess I will have to duel th… "

"Too late sucker! We are already locked in!" Fayden exclaimed, cutting off Rodrick.

"Are we going to duel or what?" Manjoume had to shout to project his voice, as he was sure Fayden couldn't hear him up there due to the sheer height of the mech suit.

"Ok Ok, Manjoume-chan, you have to learn to cherish life! You can't just be so eager to lose… and die here!"

"Manjoume…. chan!?" Now Manjoume was _really_ pissed, not only Fayden mock him by calling him with a cute honorific but he also teased him by saying that he was definitely going to lose!

"Let's get this on the road! I activate Accelerated Thought from my deck!" The cyborg exclaimed as a spell card appeared on the battlefield, out from the holographic card appeared a headset which hovered up to attach to its owner's head, Fayden's deck was then automatically shuffled by a mechanical apparatus.

"So you can activate that card from your deck?" Ryota inquired, curious to why he has never seen anything like a card that can be played directly from the deck.

"Mechanically enhanced duellists, also known as cyber duellists have the unique ability to contain and control cards in their deck that could activate from the deck itself, such cards are called memory cards. Although they have great consistency due to the ability to play a card from their deck they lack explosiveness as they can only play one memory-card every turn during either player's turn."

Rodrick explained to the duo, hoping that this piece of information could help them in this duel.

"Also, continuing from what Rodrick just said. Cyber duelling was put under research by the Chinese many years ago, but was then research on it was banned due to its connection to the underground market, as well as the obvious underground duelling. However luckily as a former CEO of Manjoume Corp, I managed to have one of my employee's playtest a prototype suit".

"And?" Fayden asked Manjoume with hint of malice as given by his smirk, whilst also signifying with the end of his turn with a gentle hand gesture to Ryota.

"The test subject suffered an internal problem with his body as it took months of therapy and surgeries to allow him to play _regular non-memory cards_ again. Every time he played a non-memory card it just did nothing and was useless… and he got shocked for 500 life points every turn."

"I draw! Then I set 2 cards and 1 monster face-down" Ryota ended his turn.

"I draw! I set a monster face-down, then…"

"I activate battery lightning from my deck! This memory trap card can be activated when an opponent sets or summons a monster, and when activated it destroys one monster on the field!"

Fayden activated his trap as a current of lighting struck down and zapped Manjoume's set man-eater bug.

" _Shit, now my only monster is gone. I will set a face-down anyways"_ Manjoume thought as he passed the turn to his enemy.

"Accelerated Thought allows me to not draw during my draw phases, it also allows me to pay 500 life points in order to have my traps be immune to negation. I shall not draw during my draw phase."

" _So it is easier for him to play cards from his deck rather than in his hand_ " Manjoume analysed.

"I shall play Memory Reflect Slime in defence mode (0/3000) and end my turn!" A large grey reflective goo appeared before the cyborg, which then turned into a blue reflective goo after Fayden gestured to Ryota, signifying the end of his turn.

"Alright! I will begin my turn by summoning the Atlantean Dragoons in attack mode (1800/0), then I will flip my face-down Atlantean Heavy Infantry face-up (0/1600). This allows the summoning of an additional monster during my main phase, and I choose to summon Atlantean Marksman 1400/0."

"To help you out Ryota I will activate my face-down, Compulsory Evacuation Device! This bounces your monster back to your hand!" A mechanical platform appeared below the slime, turning it into pure energy which then shot back to Fayden's hand, finally materializing into a physical card.

"I will summon another copy of Memory Reflect Slime from my deck in defence mode then!" Fayden's response was however eerily off according to the observation of Rodrick, it seemed as though there was a secondary reason other than a tactical reason that he would summon another copy of the slime, rather than activating another memory card from his deck.

"Doesn't matter much. Atlantean Dragoons allows my Level 3 or lower Sea Serpents to attack you directly!" Ryota declared as Fayden got shot by a crossbow by the Atlantean marksman (12000-10600).

"Next, I activate marksman's effect! I get to special summon a level 4 or lower Atlantean monster from my deck as long as it is not another copy of marksman." A heavily armoured brigade of atlanteans materialized onto the battlefield (1400/0).

"The Atlantean Attack Squad gets an additional 800 attack points as long as I control another sea creature! (1400-2200/0). And since it is a level 3 monster it can attack you directly!" Ryota declared his attack, shortly after the attack squad surrounded Fayden and then closed in delivering slashes and shield bashes simultaneously, causing parts of his mech-suit to clearly malfunction which was made obvious by the sparks and "faulty wiring or cord" noise heard occasionally when you plug in a device into an electrical power outlet (10600-8400).

"Are you done? Cause I can't wait to see this once it is Manjoume's turn…" Fayden grinned, clearly showing no sign of pain from the previous assaults.

"See what?" Manjoume shouted.

"I end my turn!" Ryota, who felt uneasy about what Fayden meant whilst reluctantly giving priority to the former pro.

The slime started transforming once that priority was given, it first turned pink, and then yellow, and then segments of pink, yellow and many other colours, whilst chaos was happening amongst those colours, a slim, elegant and familiar figure formed.

"Asuka?" Manjoume gasped in surprise.

"Wait, who?" Ryota inquired in response.

"No, it's not you…" Manjoume sighed.

"How would you know if it's not her?" Fayden questioned, planning to plague Manjoume's mind with doubt.

"Asuka… would never want to fight me."

"Are you freaking serious? She tried to kill you!" Ryota shouted, being very surprised at how Manjoume would forget such a traumatic occasion.

"I…I just know ok? You both don't know her like I do!"

"Wow, you are annoyingly delusional. You believe that she is still your friend so strongly that you actually ended up avoiding being persuaded that it was actually her! It pisses me off that your weakness coincidently benefited you." Fayden spited in absolute irritancy.

Manjoume drew his card and smiled. " _With this card, I will win!_ "

"During your standby phase I activate my third and final Memory Reflect Slime from my deck in defence mode (0/3000)!" A second slime appeared on the field, but was a regular slime unlike the Asuka clone.

"I will set 1 card, and then I will summon the Gene-Warped Warwolf in attack mode! (2000/0). End." 

Manjoume stood satisfied at his level 4 monster. He considered himself very lucky that he even got one of these from the "common card" pool that he was limited to, level 4 monsters with 2000 attack and no drawback were heralded as the best cards for starting duellist. They were both easy enough to use and strong for new players and consistent enough for professional duellists. The demand for these monsters were so high that their prices skyrocketed to around seven thousand yen each, hence why only rich children could afford these.

"I guess it is my turn. I will activate the trap card "Multi-Compatible System" from my deck. This allows me to be able to play non-memory cards normally, even though I will still take 500 damage per turn for each face up non-memory card on the field."

"Oh no, Ryota! We have to end this duel soon." Manjoume warned.

"Can't we just take our time? If he plays a normal cards he takes 500 damage per turn for each of them on the field… in addition to the damage output I am sending with my sea monsters."

"Ryota that is assuming that his normal cards actually stay on the field, but if it is a trap or spell card then it is like a free advantage. The point is with that card he has more options and he can play more cards each turn as playing normal cards does not counts towards the limit of how many memory cards he can play per turn."

Hearing this Ryota nodded towards his partner in agreement.

"Accurate analysis, as expected of you… Black Thunder. But you got one thing wrong, it is not a "free advantage" rather it is an advantage that outweighs its detriments to me. While "System" is on the field I have to either pay 1000 life or discard a card during my Main phase 1 or I lose the game." Fayden returned to a serious tone and reminding himself who he is actually facing, after all he should always be on guard when facing someone as renowned as the "Black Thunder".

"I will now discard one card in payment for System, the card I sent to the grave was Makyura the Destructor. Of course… you are already familiar with what this card does when it is sent to the grave. I will now continue my turn by activating Metal Reflect Slime in my hand (0/3000), and since I only have to take 500 damage during my end phase. I take no damage if I just play a normal spell card…"

"Fusion…" Manjoume guessed.

"I am thinking so too." Ryota added.

"I will activate polymerization! Fusing my three slimes to summon 'Elastic Network'!"

The 3 slimes stretched and distorted around a singularity, only for a beam of light to pierce the roof, forming a geyser in which grey metallic liquid seeped out. Soon the entire room was shrouded in a grey matter with red outlines denoting circuitry you would typically see from within a computer. Fayden's mech suit sank below the circuit-shrouded floor like quicksand, clearly merging with this 'network'.

"You guys are like computer viruses, except that I unfortunately have to completely delete you… Even though you guys would have served as nice souvenirs if I took the risk of quarantining you. Would you agree?" Fayden laughed.

 _To be continued_


End file.
